1968-'73 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE L 6.3

Subtle, until you light 'em up

Feature Article from Hemmings Motor News

Big Mercedes-Benz automobiles from the late 1960s and early 1970s are always a good idea, offering seemingly infinite years of reliable transportation. Styling may not be groundbreaking, but it's not mired in the ideals of its era, either. Nor is it easy to tell any of the W108 (steel springs) cars and the W109 (air suspension) cars apart, which means that if you've got the big daddy of the entire lineup, the 300 SE L 6.3, no one's going to give you a second glance.
Mercedes never intended to put their mighty, limousine-powering 6.3-liter V-8 into the 300 SEL's engine bay. "The idea came from a German journalist who told me I was getting old, building granny cars," said Dr. Erich Waxenberger, then head of the Daimler-Benz experimental department, in an interview in Classic & Sports Car. "I decided to show him and ordered up a raw SEL body rejected from Sindelfingen. We put the 6.3 V-8 into that. [Head of passenger car research Rudolf] Uhlenhaut didn't know a thing about this until he heard it go past his office window late one night and immediately insisted on driving the car."
The resulting car (which gained a space between the SE and L) was the most spectacular performer ever sporting the three-pointed star, and an engineering marvel as well. It's a big car, at 3,924 pounds and 16.4 feet long, but the fuel-injected DOHC 6.3 produces 250hp (DIN) at 4,000 rpm, and better, 434-lbs.ft. of torque. Zero-to-60 mph runs of 6.4 seconds made it one of the fastest cars in the world, and the 137 mph top speed meant you'd get wherever you were going in a big, big hurry.
Most of the worldwide sales of 6,526 units came from 1969 through 1971, and 1,839 of those made it to the U.S., where they retailed around $16,000. It took a solid 30 years before values even approached that level again, and you can easily find them in that range now, although you might want to look twice. Among the car's many technologically advanced features is a pneumatic suspension that, while reliable, requires rigorous maintenance--it's worth paying a substantial premium for one where it's been replaced. $40,000 isn't unusual for a good, low-mileage car today.
The strong euro has encouraged a steady flow of cars back to Germany, and they're becoming increasingly scarce in the USA, which boosts values here. But the conservative styling and small group of enthusiasts in the know should help keep this family road missile affordable for years to come.

This article originally appeared in the October, 2007 issue of Hemmings Motor News.